In its 2019 Report to the Universal Periodic Review, the Islamic Republic of Iran stated that it adopted measures including “providing access to a lawyer and benefiting from legal advice” and added that “in the agreement with the centre of lawyers and legal advisers of the Judiciary and a number of bar associations, free judicial assistance is provided to prisoners” and that “social and judicial assistance units also provide legal counsel to prisoners.”39 However, as previously mentioned individuals accused of committing crimes against national security, including those that might be sentenced to the death penalty, are often denied access to a lawyer during the investigative stage of the judicial process. In the hundreds of cases of individuals arrested for political reasons or are suspected of committing ordinary crimes that the Abdorrahman Boroumand Centre has investigated, all detainees were interrogated without the presence of an attorney.40 Reports have shown a pattern of reported cases where prisoners remain incarcerated without proper access to legal representation during all stages of their trial procedure. 41 42 43 44 In many reported cases, especially those involving charges of crimes against national security, defendants have reported seeing their lawyer for the first time on the day of their trial. 45 46 In light of the above, the Islamic Republic of Iran has not ensured that all those sentenced to death can exercise their right to equal access to justice through adequate legal representation. Additionally, the existing legal aid programmes have not been effective in ensuring adequate and qualified legal representation for all. Recommendation Status: This recommendation has NOT been implemented47 39 National Report, UPR 2019, Islamic Republic of Iran, https://undocs.org/A/HRC/WG.6/34/IRN/1 Abdorrahman Boroumand Center, joint submission to the Human Rights Committee from the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center, Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, Impact Iran, Human Rights Activists in Iran, 2020, https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CCPR/Shared%20Documents/IRN/INT_CCPR_ICS_IRN_42313_E.pdf 41 HRANA https://www.en-hrana.org/political-prisoner-denied-access-to-an-attorney 42 HRANA https://www.en-hrana.org/arash-sadegh-golrokh-iraeis-lawyers-access-cases 43 Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, January 2020, https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/IR/Report_of_the_Special_Rapporteur_on_the_situation_of_human_rights_in_the_ Islamic_Republic_of_IranA4361.pdf 44 Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, July 2020, https://documentsdds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N20/190/27/PDF/N2019027.pdf?OpenElement 45 Joint submission to the Human Rights Committee from the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center, Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, Impact Iran, Human Rights Activists in Iran, 2020, https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CCPR/Shared%20Documents/IRN/INT_CCPR_ICS_IRN_42313_E.pdf 46 Human Rights Watch https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/03/24/iran-detainees-denied-fair-legal-representation 40 47 For more, please see: Abdorrahman Boroumand Center https://www.iranrights.org/newsletter/issue/79 5